House Hunting Woes...

Heidi, I feel your pain. We looked for awhile til we found our house. It's a buyer's market in the Philly suburbs right now, so hopefully you'll find something in your price range soon. Keep us updated!

I totally feel your pain, Heidi! Matt and I just started talking about beginning to look now, and unless you have like $300k at least you can't live in the suburbs. Unless you go reallllllly far out. I already travel about 1.5 hours to work daily, no way I am making that commute longer! I can't wait to begin the search for real, but I think it's going to have a lot of heartache and be a pain in the ass!

Good luck though, cuz there ARE some nice houses for cheap out there, they are just few and far between..

That's TOO far for us! We work in Ft Washington and that is too far of a commute for me! haha! The furthest we're looking is Telford... but really, closer to Glenside/Ft Washington/Ambler/etc would be ideal!

Ugh I feel your pain too. From when we started looking our budget went up almost $100K, just so we didn't have to buy in a horrible neighborhood (no I didn't want to get mugged walking home at night). Maybe you can rent a place for 6 months or so while you keep looking?

Renting isn't really as bad as people make it out to be. Even if your rent is exactly the same as the mortgage, there are other savings.

~The down payment money you would have put into a house can be earning interest ~No property tax, HOA dues or home owners insurance (renters insurance is like $12 a month) ~Flexibility to move if you change jobs or want to live in a different area ~no money spent on repairs & maintenence

I've heard you should estimate the cost of owning to be 50% more than the payments. I'm not sure how true this is. But I've read/ heard on financial shows that if your rent is $800 & your motgage is $800 the cost of owning is going to be closer to $1200 once you figure in the other expenses.

I definitly plan to own once I'm living in the same place long enough. But, when we move we'll probably rent for the first 6 months to make sure we get a house we want. You don't want to rush it just to avoid renting & end up regretting your decision. I've had several friends want to move within the first 2 years of living somewhere because they made to many compromises on the place & didn't like it.

If you are ready to buy though, just keep looking. make sure you are working with a good realtor & don't loose hope. I think househunting feels hopeless at some point for everyone, but eventually it seems like they find a place that suites them. Good luck!

Good luck finding something, Heidi! You might want to consider some of the changes you could do to the house as far as renovations. If the house is in a decent area and has the right 'bones' so much can be done. Alex and I bought a house two years ago and with a lot of hard work and a bit of money into it the house is a completely different house. We actually lived in the unfinished basement for 6 months while we worked on the upstairs. It was crazy, but so worth it in the end. I'll have to post pics in the 'show your house' thread when I get a moment. Good luck finding something! Oh... and I agree with Morgan and the other girls... you don't want to rush into buying a house. A good option might be to find something for the two of you to rent for 6 months or so after the wedding while you continue the house hunt. Good luck!

Sorry you're going through all of this Heidi. I went through the same thing in Dallas. Even though the market is not that expensive yet - but getting there. I only wanted to buy near downtown, well it took me about a year and a half to find a place. In fact, the first place I found and put an offer down fell through, the second place I lost my earnest money. The third accepted another offer while I was making up my mind and the fourth was smooth sailing. I couldn't believe how easy it seemed to work out. The same will happen to you, keep looking and don't give up. There's a place out there that's meant to be yours.

oh Heidi I am so sorry you are dealing with all this now. I'm a big believer that things work out for a reason and in a few months you'll look back on the house that sold yesterday and see it as a blessing that it's not yours. Renting, purchasing, whatever .... it's you guys living together in a house/apt you choose together that is super exciting!! Hang tight, i'm sure it will work out!!!!

I feel your pain living in a small space. I moved into Mike's 1bdrm, 1bth apartment and it is literally busting at the seams. We have no room for anything, but the rent is super cheap so we are able to save for the wedding and a down payment on a house. We have been living together for a little over 2 years so even though it is not the ideal situation it will be work out for the better in the long run. If you can tough it out to live with Reggie in the apartment while you look for a house, it will be that much more rewarding when you find your new home. Good luck!